Title: Science and Magic and Lions, OH MY!
Author: JD Bennett
Publisher: Self-Published
Publication Date: October 31, 2025
Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Mystery, Horror
Length: About 45 pages.
Source: I received a free copy from the author.
Rating: 3 Stars
Blurb:
***Intended for adult readers*****
Magic, Science, & Lions, OH MY! is a collection of short stories that include horrifying tales of a rapist eating monster, the staging of a war between fairy tale and folklore characters, and, of course, aliens.
Content Warning: Poisoning, politics, domestic violence, and murder. I skipped over the story about the rapist eating monster and so will not be including it in my review. (Yes, I read the rest of them!)
Review:
Some fairy tales have sharp teeth.
”The (Attempted) Murder of a Pot Head” showed what happened after the protagonist was poisoned at a family reunion and had to try to figure out who might have been the culprit and what their motivation was. There was a plot twist involved in the investigation of this crime that I don’t want to reveal in my review for spoilers reasons, but it was as clever as it was attention grabbing and showed off Ms. Bennett’s writing abilities nicely.
Anyone who reads the title of “The Confession” can almost certainly make an educated guess about what it is about. What surprised me about this piece was the complete lack of any fantasy, science fiction, or other speculative fiction elements to it. While I thought it included some interesting ideas and had a satisfying ending, it felt out of place in this collection due to that.
By far my favorite story was “Lion in the Mirror” due to how it blended real-life events like the repeal of Roe vs. Wade in the United States to some heavy fantasy elements of a storyline featuring a likeable and intelligent main character. This is the sort of storytelling that grabs my attention and doesn’t let go, and I loved coming up with various theories about how the fantasy themes could be reinterpreted as metaphors for various experiences that many women encounter in their lives, particularly for those of us who are part of one or more other minority groups as well.
Magic, Science, & Lions, OH MY! kept me on my toes.